This invention relates generally to ink jet printing systems and more particularly concerns the manufacture of a one piece full width ink jet printing bar in which a glass or ceramic substrate is utilized for a cost effective, disposable printing bar.
If current manufacturing techniques were used, they would require assembling a full width printing bar by precision abutting many smaller printing bars until the desired width is achieved. Assembly of many smaller bars into one larger bar is both time consuming and expensive due to the small tolerance requirements of the abutted parts and the precision required in the final part. Typically, assembly costs may account for 50% of the cost of the printing bar. The large unit manufacturing cost of a full width printing bar contributes to the high cost of printers and replacement parts.
If assembly of multiple parts could be reduced or eliminated, not only would the unit manufacturing costs be considerably reduced but the resulting quality and reliability of the finished product would be increased.
Accordingly, it is the primary aim of the invention to provide a method of manufacturing a full width ink jet printing bar which reduces the number of parts needed to manufacture the printing bar.
Further advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.